Speeches by McIntyre.

“In terms of engagement and motivation, my colleague, Josh, touched upon motivation at HQ. What is your sense of motivation across the wider workforce? You mentioned retention. Retention and motivation go hand in hand. Will there be specific measures within the workforce plan that address the motivation and the fact tha…”

“Gloucester has a proud history as a welcoming and diverse city. Just last week, I was pleased to attend the Ukrainian independence day celebrations in my constituency with some of those who have sought refuge in our city. However, many constituents have written to me, particularly those who live next door to the asylum…”

“Thank you, Secretary of State. The BMA has announced an initial five-day strike. If that was to go ahead, what assessments has the Department done on what impact that might have on elective waiting lists?”

“Thank you for your answers so far, Secretary of State. Just to carry on the theme from Beccy’s questioning, I heard what you said about the supermarkets holding a lot of data, and it strikes me that another group of organisations with an awful lot of data about our eating habits is the delivery companies—your Deliveroo…”

“Okay; may we bring Jim in on that question?”

“Great, thank you. I am going to move swiftly on, given timing. In your response to the Chair, you mentioned some of the criticism about going through a period of consultation. What did you learn from the consultation on the 10 year plan that you did not know before you started?”

“Moving on, workforce is going to be key to delivering this 10 year plan. It would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to ask about the threatened strike action from the BMA. Could you update the Committee on the progress you have made on securing a meeting with the BMA’s resident doctors committee?”

“May I check, Chair—am I out of my allotted time?”

“Cyber-security is vital, not just to our national security but to safeguarding our public services, so I am delighted that the Government are investing in the sector through their cyber growth action plan. Some of that investment is going into my neighbouring town, Cheltenham, but there are so many fantastic opportunit…”

“I am glad the Secretary of State has reminded Conservative Members that they have rather short-term memories. When I took my place in this House last year, thousands of my residents in Gloucester were on NHS waiting lists—many of them for longer than 18 months. Since this Labour Government took power last year, the num…”

“13. What recent progress his Department has made on strengthening national security.”

“We have recognised in the 10-year plan that shifting to prevention will relieve pressures on the system as a whole. For example, if you tackle obesity, you will have fewer people developing bowel cancer, which will cut costs overall. If the longer-term reform of the contract is focused on urgent treatment, are we not a…”

“I am Alex McIntyre, the MP for Gloucester. I will start on something that Josh questioned. Has any analysis been done on what additional costs a reduction in routine appointments—check-ups, for example—would lead to due to people being caught later down the line? Obviously, one of the big shifts in the 10-year plan is …”

“The impact assessment published with the consultation that came out yesterday shows that if you eradicated those unnecessary check-ups and used the underspend properly, you could—the aim is to get to 500,000 more patients next year. At the moment, the problem is that there are too many unnecessary check-ups.”

“Okay. Can you provide an update on how the roll-out of the golden hello scheme is going, and the data you have to support the impact it is having on access in areas of high demand?”

“I will move swiftly on to the questions I am meant to be asking.”

“When I knock on doors in my Gloucester constituency, I hear time and again about the importance of tackling the 8 am scramble for a GP appointment, and the difficulty many of my constituents faced under the Conservative Government getting the care they needed. Will my right hon. Friend explain how Labour’s 10-year plan…”

“Thank you all for your answers so far. We have touched on some of the things that I was going to ask about. I have to declare an interest: I have a 20-month-old boy, and he of course falls firmly within the 1,001 days. I have been really interested to hear what you have had to say so far. One part of the conversation t…”

“We are in a really fortunate position in many ways, but we have been passed from pillar to post on this. We were told by a GP to go to the health visitor on it; the health visitor said that we need to go to a pharmacist; the pharmacist said no, we need to go back to the health visitor; they then said we need to phone 1…”

“To change the subject slightly, on that point about need, one of the challenges that parents in my part of the world are facing is around allergies. We know that allergies are massively increasing, particularly among babies,. With things like eczema, the research shows that allergies are likely to be involved as well. …”